ARNOLD: Group drafting master plan for city's north side
Hometown Association wants 'downtown' for Arnold
 |
| Andrew Jansen Photo The Jeffco Boulevard corridor between the Meramec River and Route 141 is being targeted for redevelopment by the Arnold Hometown Association. |
The Arnold Hometown Association is a non-profit organization working to redevelop the city's oldest corridor, an area along Jeffco Boulevard between the Meramec River and Route 141.
To that end, the association has formed nine Issue Teams, each with a specific issue assignment in the revitalization plan. Some of the issues those teams will address include the Meramec River flood plain, beautification, infrastructure, business retention, housing, the environment, and funding.Formation of the Issue Teams came after an association meeting in February attended by more than 100 city residents and business owners.
Association member Tom Dixon, of Meramec Specialty Company, said the idea is to involve the entire Arnold community in the master plan and its implementation.
"This is citizen and business driven and it's going to take a long time to evolve," Dixon said.
The Hometown Association has contacted business owners along the Jeffco corridor, and Dixon said that response to the organization's goal is encouraging.
"There have been a handful of businesses that have closed recently up and down that corridor and the remaining businesses are concerned about their future," he said. "They want to see something done that creates an improved environment for them so they can do better."
Fellow association member Frank Pointer, 64, a retired communications manager who has lived in Arnold since 1972, said the overall objective is to give Arnold a "downtown" identity- to get away from strip malls with large parking lots in front.
"We're looking at something that's more in line with the new urbanism, commercial developments up on the street with some kind of housing," he said. "We want something that is both aesthetically and people pleasing. We want something that people can enjoy where they can walk to places."
Dixon said the master plan might also include a grassy, tree-lined median in the center of Jeffco Boulevard and decorative lighting.
The association has enlisted the help of B.J. Eavy, a community development specialist with the University of Missouri Extension Office in Hillsboro.
Eavy has helped the association with organizing and paperwork, and works with the Issue Teams to develop a vision of what the association wants the north Jeffco corridor to look like.
It is Eavy who will draft the association's master plan.
"The master plan needs to be written with one voice," Eavy said. "I will take all the information that all of the teams give me and put it together. Then the first draft will go back to (the association) for them to determine if it's want they wanted."
Eavy recognizes that redeveloping an entire section of the county's largest city is no small undertaking, but she describes the Hometown Association members as "a very willing, dedicated and determined bunch."
"They are giving a lot of their time and effort to this opportunity, and this is an opportunity," she said. "And, they are asking the community to be a part of it, to be a part of the solution."
Once the master plan is completed, the association will present the plan to both the Arnold City Council and to the city's planning and zoning commission. Dixon said they hope to accomplish that before the end of the year.
The association will then take into consideration any changes to the plan suggested by city officials and discuss how best to actually implement the plan and pay for it.
Dixon said the Hometown Association welcomes citizen input and encourages Arnold residents to attend association meetings, which take place at 6 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month at the Arnold Community Center on Lower Tenbrook Road.
